Did you know that the new Miss America was crowned last month? We didn'teither until we read it in one of our rival publications (Newsweek).Apparently, the event was a big deal this time around because it was thefirst year two-piece bathing suits were allowed (next year, we hearthey'll let contestants' hair actually move.)

Ordinarily, we wouldn't give a hoot except it got us to thinking, why nothave a Miss David Cup contest? Just imagine it: Ken Rosenberg prancingdown the catwalk (presumably the lighthouse jetty) in a silk evening gownteal green, naturally), and Bill Evans in that ground-breaking two-piecetastefully accentuated by a certain pair of red suspenders.) StephenDavies could strut his stuff in his infamous stilettos. Oh, and think ofthe talent part of the contest: Kevin McGowan swinging from lighthouse tolighthouse on his repelling ropes with his "Miss Beam Hill" banner drapedacross his chest, and Steve Kelling wading around the swan pen giving hisbest Great Blue Heron imitation. And when Karl David gets that inevitablequestion, "If you could do anything to make the world a better place, whatwould it be?" imagine his answer: "I'd make all the world one big, happyBasin, and everyone in it would be Cuppers."

Who, pray tell, would sponsor such an outrageous, downright ludicrousevent? Why, The Cup, of course! Who better than The Cup to bring youJohn Bower's embarrassing trip-up during the McIlroy part of thecompetition? Who but The Cup could describe the glorious crown slippingoff the fingers of Tom Nix and right into the hands of...? True, itwouldn't be a live broadcast; on the other hand, the editors would be atliberty to present the contest as they see it, as opposed to, say, the wayit really happened.

While our contestants are getting sized and fitted, we give you The Cup2.9. May you find it a crowning achievement!

@ @ @ @ @ @ NEWS, CUES, and BLUES @ @ @ @ @ @

WELCOME TO THE DAVID CUP CLAN: It worked! The Montezuma Muckrace suckedanother birder into the muck of the David Cup. Andy Leahy, Mucker andCup reader from Syracuse, has this to say about diving Peregrine-styleinto the competition: "Put me down for an even 90 birds. Maybe I canstorm through the door of the 100 Club before the year is done." Nosmall feat, you'll see, when you read his Scrawl of Fame this month. Andremember Kurt Fox, the DC's 1996 would-be Basin dweller from Rochester?Well... "I finally made it into the Basin. I did try to see the WesternKingbird, but it managed to escape our detection. I did pick up aneven dozen Basin birds. I think that a nice twelve birds will put me*WAY* ahead of Ralph Paonessa, but just behind Taylor Kelling."

A "BIT" OF AN OVERSIGHT: How pathetic! For the last eight issues--eversince he joined The Cup staff--Bird Bits quiz master Jay McGowan has beenfaithfully sending in his column and yet we've left him off the masthead!The look on Jay's face when he pleaded with us to tell him why--it wasworse than if he'd missed a Cattle Egret! Well, maybe not, but it wasenough to make us editors feel embarrassed, inept, rotten to the core,and certain that somehow, it had to be Bill Evans' fault. To make it upto you, Jay, we're officially endorsing you as a Top Ten candidate...aslong as this doesn't make Allison Number Eleven.

BARD HARD: While we're at it, we're going to go ahead and put the Evans'compiler up there on the masthead, too (hey, if we can give credit toJeff for acting as Dolly Grip, Rigging Gaffer, and this time around,Stunt Coordinator, it won't kill us to recognize Bard's hard workcollecting the Dryden totals--a gig he himself initiated, by the way.Bard, don't worry, we won't tell anyone that you always give yourself anextra couple of Dryden birds for your effort.

THE YARD STICK: Now, before we forget and then have to offer yet anotherapology, we'd like to welcome Margaret "in Mansfield" Launius to The Cupstaff. Margaret is "stick"ing it to us all this month by taking overthe duties of Yard Stick Compiler, for those Cuppers who believe theyshould get more than just a house and some land for paying all thosetaxes.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE...THE BASIN: Kurt Fox is a screenwriter! Well, notreally, and you'll know why when you read the far-fetched sketch for hislatest screenplay (notably, the disastrous miscasting of the WickedWitch). "After a bad slice of pizza and howling winds woke me in themiddle of the night, I couldn't help but think of another Cayugabirder'scomments on how the Western Kingbird location looked like Kansas. As youknow, Kansas is the setting for 'The Wizard of Oz.' I fancied the thoughtthat 'The Wizard of Oz' could be re-made with Cayugabirders in leadingroles. Problem is, there are just too many Basin characters and not enoughin Oz, so some are not represented. These are who I think would get theleading roles: Mira the Bird Dog as Toto; Sammy and Taylor Kelling asMunchkins and starring Jay McGowan as Head Munchkin; Caissa Willmer asGlenda the Good Witch, Ralph Paonessa's Rainbow-billed Barking Duck asHorse of a Different Color; Meena Haribal as Dorothy; Steve Kelling asThe Tin Man (rusted, off in the far woods and out of the Basin--listenclosely--he squeaks 'oil. oil' or is it 'bird... bird'?); Stephen Daviesas The Scarecrow (sorry, Stephen, a Brit accent to the Scarecrow isfitting); Ned Brinkley as The Wizard (at first I pictured Karl Davidhere, but Ned seems more magical/mystical and watches [his crystal ball]from afar). But the three fitting-est matches were: Bard Prentiss as TheLion; Allison Wells as The Wicked Witch of the West; Bill Evans as The(evil/nasty) Apple Tree (can't you just see him chucking apples at us ashe is 'rooted' to the end of the jetty?)" The Cup offers this suggestion:Kurt Fox as the Joker. Oh, but that's a different movie.

"INSIDE" INFORMATION: Did you know that Kevin McGowan was filmed thissummer for the television show "Inside Edition"? Of course you didn't,because they never ran the segment! That's right, not only did theyshelve the piece, they shelved the reporter who did the story.Presumably, they didn't want to tarnish their sensationalist image byrunning a story that might actually improve their viewers' environmentalawareness. Better to play it safe and run with the latest proof thatElvis lives. If only they knew, Elvis was a birder (he named"Graceland" for Grace's Warbler, didn't you know? It was on "InsideEdition"...)

MANATEE NEWS: A few issues back, we stretched our birding theme andran a piece about development plans in Florida's Crystal River that wouldfurther endanger the already endangered the West Indian Manatee. Some ofyou asked for an update, so briefly, here's what's happened since you allwrote your protest letters: the agencies who should have gotten involvedlong ago finally have, and the casino ship was supposed to remain docked.However, it still loads up with passengers and heads on out whenever itcan, defying court orders. (At one point, the ship's captain was arrestedupon arriving back to port.) Several times, the ship has gotten strandedin the river during low tide, just as environmentalists predicted. (Shipemployees told passengers it was sabotage!) Finally, marine patrolsboats are keeping the ship in port, at least during the day. The casewill be heard in court in mid- October. If you'd like to be put on themailing list for up-to-the minute info about this critical situation,email: us3229@citrus.infi.net.

CAFE AUDUBON: Does any other group of individuals drink more coffeethan Cuppers? No! So we thought you'd all want to know that this fall,National Audubon is introducing Cafe Audubon, a certified shade grownand organic premium coffee. All Cafe Audubon coffee is grown in thetraditional way--under the natural shade of the rainforest canopy withoutthe use of synthetic pesticides. Sadly, more and more coffee growers areconverting their farms to "sun" plantations, where rainforest is cut downto make room for more coffee trees. This destroys vital habitat formigratory songbirds, plus these "sun" farms require extensive use ofsynthetic pesticides, pollute water sources, and cause erosion. So takeyour mugs--and while your at it, take your coffee cups too--to localretailers, coffee shops, restaurants, and hotels and tell them that shadecoffee is not only good for the environment, it's good for business.And sales of Cafe Audubon will help fund National Audubon Society andSmithsonian Migratory Bird Center programs to protect wild birds andtheir habitats. (No, John Bower, Jeff's salary is not generated by CafeAudubon. If it were, we'd have bought a full-page ad in thispublication--and sent you the bill!) For more info contact Sarah Comisat National Audubon at 202-861-2242.

MEGAN UPDATE: Most papas are proud of their child's early steps, andCupper Michael Runge is no exception. Every "step"Megan takes towardsbecoming a full-fledged birder just gets Michael beaming all over: "I'mpretty sure Megan added American Goldfinch to her list this month--they've been frequenting the cosmos and sunflowers in our garden.There are increasing signs of birding interest: she's learned to crawl,and when I put her down in the middle of the lawn, she crawls toward thegarden where the goldfinches are. I'm sure it isn't the attractivepurple flowers that draw her." Nah. Cup Headquarters has cosmos growingout on their lawn and we've yet to see a single baby crawling towardsthem.

BIRD CUP BLUES AND ALL THAT JAZZ: The Crystal City Jazz Festival (inCorning) was the place to be September 24th. All day. That's right!All up and down Market Street, all day and into the evening the songs ofAntonio Carlos Jobim, Charlie Parker and other jazz greats were sizzlingout of bookstores, coffee houses, music stores, even jewelry stores! Livemusicians were everywhere, and don't worry, the Cupper-heavy IthacaAgeless Jazz Band was heating up Center Way stage at noon! Say nothingof the Merlin that zoomed low over the open-jam stage late in the day.Now that was some solo!

In geology, a "basin" is the area drained by a river and itstributaries. How to define the north end of the Cayuga Lake Basin, then,becomes problematic since our "river" continues on from Mud Lock at thenorth end of Lake Cayuga as the Seneca River, already carrying theoutflow of Seneca Lake, and on into Lake Ontario as the Oswego Riverafter picking up the outflow of Onondaga and Oneida Lakes. The "official" Basin map of the David Cup comes from a CornellUniversity Agricultural Experiment Station publication titled "The FloraTo the Cayuga Lake Basin, New York" by Karl Wiegand and Arthur Eames,issued in 1926. The Basin they describe has its southern limits at clearboundaries between the north flowing waters and the Susquehannawatershed. In Wiegand and Eames' words, "At the northern end, where thelake basin fades into the great Ontario plain, an arbitrary limit hasbeen established.....the somewhat independent region of the West Juniusponds is included and several miles of territory to the north ofMontezuma are also added in order that the "Flora" may cover all of theregion between Cayuga Lake and the immediate drainage area of the LakeOntario shore." The Junius ponds are described as containing several of the rarestplants in the Basin, "and many of exceptional occurrence," and we cansurmise that this is the reason for their inclusion. The side by sideacidic and calcareous bogs of the Junius area are drained to the north byPond Brook, and it is this stream's intersection with the Clyde River, onits way to Montezuma, that sets the western boundary of the north Basin.North and somewhat east of this point Black Brook flows south out ofdrumlin country into the Old Erie Canal and then into the Clyde, and itwas on the edge of the Black Brook drainage, and thus on the edge of DCterritory, that Bill Evans found this year's most exciting vagrant. While it may be true that for an aspirant to Cup glory there is nosubstitute for time spent in the field, time needs to be spent in theright places. By now the common species are all ticked, migrant songbirdshave been glimpsed through the leaves on their way north and back south.By now most Cuppers' cars can steer themselves up the east shore, slowlyaround the loop at Myers Park, speeding up route 90 past King Ferry, tothe corral at MNWR. It was left to Bill to explore the region beyond,where he found the Basin's 5th Western Kingbird, a bird normally foundwest of the Mississippi, on the 24th. According to Kaufman, a fewvagrants reach the east coast every year and some of these evidentlywinter in Florida. September started off with Davies noting some nice southboundwarblers at the jetty and good numbers of Caspian Terns. Kelling, Wells,and the McGowans found a Red-necked Phalarope and a Lesser Black-backedGull among the shorebirds at Mays Point. The Cup's premier hawk watcher,Andy Farnsworth, found Merlin cruising downtown, and observed kettles ofBroadwings numbering in the hundreds at Mt Pleasant. Oh yes, Andy alsoreported most of the possible hawk species at one time or another duringthe month of September right from his own porch in the heart of McIlroyterritory. An Olive-sided Flycatcher was observed at the Lab of O on the15th and on the 21st Meena Haribal found a Sanderling at Benning Marsh. Early in the month Bill Evans reported a fine flock of 23 GoldenPlovers in the plowed fields near Peruville. A hit or miss bird atMontezuma through this migration season, this flock provided anopportunity to see a variety of plumages as the birds molted into basicgray. And ever alert to what's up, Bill noted one of the only EveningGrosbeaks seen in the Basin this year flying over the Lab of O atmidmonth. Like the spectacular dunks of the NBA's Dominique Wilkins, aplayer known as the "Human Highlight Film," Bill's finds were in and ofthemselves the cream of the September Cup highlights.

(Tom Nix is a Liberal Arts grad-turned-carpenter, now a Code Inspectorfor the City of Ithaca. He followed the Wells, Matt Medler and CaseySutton part way up to the Western Kingbird sight--they recognized histeal green van behind them. Thing is, when Matt waved, Tom had morphedinto some stranger...but at least he waved back.)

100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 CLUB100 100 100 100 100 100 100

SIGN ON THE 100 CLUB DOOR: "No new members admitted this month.And it's your own fault."

Bill Evans BIRD 200: Western Flycatcher (he thinks--and since he's theone who found it, we'll give him the benefit of a doubt.)WHAT HE GAVE TO GET IN: Mt. Pleasant

Andy Farnsworth's BIRD 200: "I do not know off the top of my head.Probably some warbler since my spring was pretty screwy."WHAT HE GAVE TO GET IN: His hand-crafted Aceto guitar

Anne Kendall-Cassella's BIRD 200: Short-billed DowitcherWHAT SHE GAVE TO GET IN: Her summer vacation in Belgrade, Maine

Bard Prentiss' BIRD 200: "I don't know what my 200th birdwas but it was a shore bird and it was at Mays Point or Benning Marsh."WHAT HE GAVE TO GET IN: His hippymobile

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< PILGRIMS' PROGRESS >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

by Matt Medler

Holy McGowans, Batman! Just a month after Stephen Davies assumed hisplace on the David Cup throne, Jay and Kevin stormed the palace, withJay moving into fifth place to tie with Allison Wells, and Kevinclaiming the September crown.

EDITORS' NOTE: Matt Medler would like the record to show thatinclusion of James Barry's totals in last month's issue was an erroron behalf of the editors, who overrode his "omission." However, sincethe editors have final say, we're going to go ahead and say the mistakewas his fault.

*Currently living out-of-state but anticipate or have made a temporaryreturn to Basin within the 1997 David Cup year. Will pay large sums ofmoney to any Cupper willing to trade totals with them.

*Currently living out-of-state but anticipate or have made a temporaryreturn to Basin during the 1997 David Cup year. Will pay large sums ofmoney to any Cupper willing to trade totals with them.

THE EVANS TROPHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Named in honor of the late Dick Evans--beloved local birder, Cayuga BirdClub president, and friend to many--the Evans Trophy will be awarded toKen Rosenberg, er, to the Cupper with the highest Dryden total.

Before giving you the new leader's list, recall that I had to make aneducated guess at Stephen Davies' list last month. I made two (2) errors.For those of us who prize precision, we need to remove Sora and AcadianFlycatcher from his list and replace them with Brant and Golden-wingedWarbler.

Now to Kevin's list. Not to brag, but with hotshot young son Jay pushinghim, Kevin's eventual emergence as King of the Hill (for now) was nosurprise to me! Here you have it:

(Karl David teaches mathematics at Wells College in Aurora and is spendinga sabbatical year at Cornell. Rumor has it he owns stock in McDonald's.)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! KICKIN' TAIL! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What better way to prove you use your fatherly influence over your highlycompetitive son than by being featured in an interview exclusively for TheCup? Kickin' Tail brings well deserved honor and recognition to theCupper who has glassed, scoped, scanned, driven, climbed, dug, crowed, orotherwise made his/her way to the top of the David Cup list. There wassome speculation a few months back about dark-horse favorites, and guesswhose name didn't come up? This month's Kickin' Tail Leader KevinMcGowan's! (Maybe this particular dark horse was misidentified as acrow...with wing tags.)

THE CUP: "Here are our September totals. We're doing okay, despite myperennial problems with fall." Kevin, your quote, sent in with yourtotals, suggests you have no business Kickin' Tail this month or anymonth in fall. How do you reconcile this inconsistency?

McGOWAN: I always have trouble in the fall. I think I run out of gasafter the excitement of spring migration and the effort of my researchthrough the summer. I can keep up the momentum for the shorebirds, butthose fall landbirds always elude me. I don't know how Bill Evans getsso excited.

THE CUP: They're the only birds around when he's actually in town.

McGOWAN: The same warblers you stopped paying attention to in thesummer now elicit exclamations of joy from the excited fall birders, butnot me.

THE CUP: What these birders are only excited about is the chance to"clean up" the gazillion birds they missed in spring so they'll have arespectable David Cup score when it's all said and done. Face it, whoare these "excited fall birders?" Bill Evans. Enough said.

McGOWAN: Spring migration is this flood after the drought of winter.Fall is just a bit more excitement after all the singing stops.

THE CUP: What were some of the key birds that put you ahead?

McGOWAN: Fortunately, I got Lincoln's Sparrow in the spring (althoughI've had a few this fall, too), and I did get Philadelphia Vireo thisfall, both of which I've been missing a lot lately. But I still missedOlive-sided Flycatcher and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, two of my constantmisses.

THE CUP: Ouch.

McGOWAN: Orange-crowned Warbler and Connecticut are still tomake an appearance, but I haven't been trying very hard (but I have beenout there). I might point out that last year I had 232 species at theend of September, almost exactly the same as this year. The bigdifference is that I was in 6th place last year, behind the leader at247.

THE CUP: And you're bragging about this?

McGOWAN: Despite the fact that it seems like a duller year than last,it really isn't. We've had nearly the same number of rarities this yearas last, and our combined total (as figured by Karl) is actually higherthis year. It's just that no one is putting in the huge effort of 1996to see everything.

THE CUP: Haven't you seen Bill Evans lately? And Karl? He's got thatlook again. Say nothing of your own son! (The pesky little...)

McGOWAN: I cannot compete for the really big year. I have a family and ajob, and despite my son's interest, I cannot spend the time in the fieldthat it takes for a really big year.

McGOWAN: This year things are a bit more manageable and I can compete.

THE CUP: 'at a boy, Kev! You know, Tom missed a fair number of raritiesthese last few months--the avocet, the Cattle Egret, the Western Kingbird--provoking you to speculate that a bunch of us are pretty much even inthat arena now. You said that you believe the winner will therefore bethe person with the most "3"s, on your difficulty-rating scale. What doyou think are the most important birds this year that fit into thatcategory? More importantly, do you have them all?

McGOWAN: In my list of difficulty codes for Basin birds, the 3's arethose that are predictable each year but are difficult to find. Everyfierce competitor should have all of the 1's and 2's, but will probablymiss some 3's. (Incidently, if you get all of the predictable ones, you'llcome up with 237 species right there). Last year I predicted (correctly,I might add) that the leaders would have most of the 3's and thedifference would be in the number of the harder 4's and 5's (those thingsnot seen every year). Karl had a couple of things that made thedifference, like American Avocet, Pine Grosbeak, and Hoary Redpoll.

THE CUP: Must you remind us?

McGOWAN: This year, we're all bunched up in the 4's and 5's sightings,with no one having a clear edge. Tom had the best positioning, but hehas fallen down miserably in getting those late good birds. So, it setme to thinking that perhaps the proportion of 3's seen will be the key.Of those, only three have yet to be reported: Black Scoter, Surf Scoter,and Connecticut Warbler. I am missing 9 that have been seen by others,but several of those (Long-eared Owl, Northern Shrike, Brant, Red-throated Loon) are still possible. A few, though, like Yellow-belliedand Olive-sided Flycatchers and Yellow-billed Cuckoo are gone.

THE CUP: How are you able to get quality birding time in AND keep yourpersistent Cupper son behind you? What might it take for you to"accidentally" forgot to take him birding with you in the next few months(name your price!)

McGOWAN: Jay's excitement with birding and the time we have spenttogether have definitely been the highlight of this otherwise difficultyear. Needless to say, we have been having a great time! Of course,it's not all roses. There has been some added stress this year in havingto find these birds, not just for myself, but for my non-driving birdingbuddy as well. When I walked up to Stephen Davies on the lighthousejetty and he told me he had an avocet, my first reaction was "Wow!Where?" But the second one was "Shoot, I can't stay here and look at it,I've got to go get Jay!"

THE CUP: Next time, call us and we'll go get him. (Ha, ha, ha.)

McGOWAN: It was a life bird for him; one we had missed down atJamaica Bay shortly before that. So, that added a couple of extra hours tomy day. And if you've ever looked at the face of an excited child tryingto hide the extreme disappointment of not being able to locate some oddbird that was "just right there a second ago," you know that this isn'tsomething to take lightly.

THE CUP: Yes, we've seen that look on Matt Medler's face. Of course,just as often, the look's on all our faces, since Matt is a notorious badluck charm. Just ask James Barry, the poor guy.

McGOWAN: Shoot, I'VE wanted to cry sometimes when we've missed something.As you're aware, birding has built-in frustrations that can breakeven adults. I had a good birding friend a number of years ago justfinally give up the sport completely after one too many disappointments.

THE CUP: I thought we agreed not to bring that up about Tom Nix?

McGOWAN: Jay and I have been extremely lucky this year finding rarities,far more successful than I've ever been before. What would be the priceto leave him at home more often? You don't have enough money!

THE CUP: True, we're still waiting for some bottomless endowment. If ithappens to the Smithsonian, it's sure to happen to The Cup, you know?Speaking of endowments, living on Beam Hill has been instrumental in yourKickin' Tail this month--you must have suspected this would happen whenyou bought your house. But how were you able to convince Kim that thiswas where the family should settle?

McGOWAN: Living above Dryden Lake is good for birding and we've hada nice bunch of birds on the hill, too. We looked at a lot of placesbefore deciding on this one. I can't say that being in the Basin was anecessity, but it was a factor in the decisions (albeit way behind mostof the other, normal criteria).

THE CUP: Righhht.

McGOWAN: Kim was more flexible in this respect than I.

THE CUP: Any interesting new findings regarding your crow work? Howhas it helped you in the DC this time around? You didn't "relocate" lastyear's Marbled Godwit, we noticed.

McGOWAN: This was a crow season to forget. My mother's death in themiddle of it made it, by definition, the worst one ever. The crowsthemselves were doing interesting things, including a bunch of taggedones becoming breeders (females usually wait 3 years before breeding,males 5). But, except for the excitement of having a television crewfilming me once ("Inside Edition," anyone seen it?), it was mostly a downseason.

THE CUP: Yeah, we saw it. There was that great scene with that woman inthe phone booth being attacked by all those angry birds--oh, wait. Thatwas a film by some hack named Hitchcock.

McGOWAN: As you can tell, it didn't help my Ithaca list much this year.Other than Golden Eagles over Cayuga Heights (twice!), I didn't turn upall that much. It still got me out and about, though, so some of theregulars came quickly.

THE CUP: What was the last article you read?

McGOWAN: Peter Dodson's column in the American Paleontologist aboutbeing a Christian and still being able to be a good scientist.

THE CUP: Sounds like a good article for that Cornell science professor--you know, the who walks into his classroom the first day and declares,"There is no God"? It was good fodder for Allison's former writingstudents--it always got them in a tizzy. What do you predict the winningtotal will be, and will it be yours?

McGOWAN: Could be me. October might tell. I don't think we'll get outof the low 240's this year, so let's go for 244. I should point out thatthis is still a pretty impressive total, and especially impressive isthe number of people we have over 200 already. Last year a certain youngcompetitor got 208 species and felt almost embarrassed that he was so farbehind the leaders. I had to point out to him that NO ONE should beashamed of 208 species! That's an incredible total, especially forsomeone who doesn't even drive yet. I think some people can be so caughtup in this amazing competition that they lose sight of reality.

THE CUP: What do you mean, "lose sight of reality?" The David Cup ISreality...isn't it?

JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ BIRDBITS By Jay McGowanJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJWelcome to Birdbits! Here is a chance to test your knowledge of theworld of birds. September is the peak of fall migration, so migration isthis month's theme. Answers next month (Or, if you pay me ten dollars,I'll tell you them now.)

1. Which bird migrates the farthest?2. Almost all birds that breed in North America winter in North or SouthAmerica or the Caribbean, but one land bird winters in Africa. What is it?3. What falcon times its breeding so it coincides with fall migration sothat it can feed migrating birds to its young?4. What South American bird periodically turns up in New York because itgets turned around when trying to go home to Argentina from Venezuela?5. What North American hawk has the longest migration?6. What three relatively common New York birds breed in the southernhemisphere and winter in New York in their winter and our summer?7. Most of the spotted thrushes winter in Central and South America.Which one winters in the U.S.?8. What occasional visitor to the Basin breeds in the high arctic andusually winters in the Great Plains but sometimes turns up at feeders here?9. Which bird's name means "Wandering Thrush"?10. What bird (besides Peregrine Falcon) has peregrinus in the name?BONUS: Why do birds fly south for the winter?

ANSWERS TO LAST MONTH'S BIRDBITS:

1. How could you tell an American Golden-Plover from a Black-belliedPlover if all you could see was their feet? Black-bellies have a verysmall hallux (a hind toe) and Golden-Plovers don't. That means Black-bellies have four toes and Golden-Plovers only have three on each foot.

2. Which North American shorebirds have black bellies in breedingplumage? Northern Jacana, Eurasian Dotterel, Black-bellied Plover,American Golden-Plover, Pacific Golden-Plover, Eurasian Golden-Plover,Spotted Redshank, Dunlin, and Ruff (sometimes).3. What is the scientific name for the Spoonbill Sandpiper?Eurynorhychus pygmeus.4. Which of the peeps (the small sandpipers) have webbing between theirtoes? Semipalmated Sandpiper and Western Sandpiper.5. What shorebird is supposed to clean the teeth of crocodiles? TheEgyptian Plover of tropical Africa. It is not a real plover, but acourser, a member of a family we don't have in North America.6. Curlews' bills curve down. Godwits' bills curve up. Which shorebirds'bills curve to the side? Wrybills. This odd shorebird lives only in NewZealand. Its bill is adapted to extract prey from under rocks.7. Flamingos have the longest legs relative to their size of any bird.What is second? Stilts.8. What North American shorebird has the longest bill? Long-billed Curlewhas the longest bill of the regularly occurring shorebirds, but the FarEastern Curlew that occasionally shows up in Alaska has an even longerbill.9. What is peculiar about the egg tooth of an American Woodcock chick?Woodcock chicks have two egg teeth, the second of which is located on thetip of the lower mandible.10. What does Dromas ardeola eat? Dromas ardeola (the Crab Plover) eatsalmost exclusively crabs. The Crab Plover is a large Black-and-Whiteshorebird with a very large bill and breeds on the India coastline of thepersian gulf and Arabian peninsula.

(Jay McGowan, age eleven, is home-schooled. If he catches this month'sKickin' Tail leader, he will likely be grounded.)

Only one person, Michael Runge, took a stab at the calculation Ioutlined last month. At least, he was the only one willing to show it tome. The method I proposed to calculate the probability of seeing at leastone each of the two bitterns, rails and cuckoos was the "brute force"method of enumerating every case: the easiest to understand, but the mosttedious to carry out. Michael, with training in slick combinatorialtechniques, figured out a shortcut, as there generally is in such cases. Such shortcuts are of tremendous practical value. They save timeand, when machines are involved, money. To compare, recall that in thissituation 6 probabilities had to be multiplied to get the probability ofeach of the 27 distinct outcomes. Hence my method would require 5multiplications (not 6 ...think about it!) for the probability of each ofthe 27 cases, hence 27 X 5 =135 multiplications. The resulting 27 numberswould then have to be added up to get the final probability, resulting ina total of 135 + 26 = 161 operations. By contrast, the shortcut Michael found required just 17multiplications and 6 additions or subtractions [a clue as to how he didit!], for a total of only 17 + 6 = 23 operations. That's just 23/161 = 14%of the work for the other method! If you're curious how he did it, e-mailme and I'll tell you. To throw some jargon your way, he used somethingcalled the inclusion-exclusion principle. It's all done with Venn diagramsof the appropriate sets, if you remember those from your school math daze. To get back to the birds, it was practically a foregone conclusionthat after writing the article, I would see one of the missing birds. Ididn't think it would be the same day, but in fact it was: I saw anAmerican Bittern at Montezuma. Several days later, the Cayuga Bird Clubfield trip I led there saw a Virginia Rail. Oh, I forgot to tell you the probability Michael came up with: 85%.So, that means in effect I have an 85% chance of seeing a cuckoo now,thus completing the destined triumvirate, right? Wrong! We're now in theexceedingly slippery and confusing realm of CONDITIONAL probability:the probability of fulfilling some prophecy AFTER some of the events havealready happened (or not). For example, what's the probability of getting10 consecutive heads on a repeated coin toss, IF you've already gotten 9straight? That's (literally) a big "if"; the answer is 50%. This isdefinitely not to be confused with the probability of getting 10 straightheads, which is about one in a thousand. In our birding scenario, theprobability has already dropped to practically 0, since the likelihood ofseeing a cuckoo after October 1 is practically nil. Next month: "The Triumph and Tragedy of Never-missed Birds onYear Lists," or "Black-throated Blue Warbler, We Hardly Knew Ye."

(Did we mention Karl David is a mathematics professor?)

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" SCRAWL OF FAME"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""EDITORS' NOTE: We were fortunate to receive two exquisite Scrawls ofFame this month, and since they're both timely, we're going to run themboth and say we didn't. "Tails from the Old West" by Karl David

As Kevin McGowan put it, the patch of habitat that the recent WesternKingbird was found in looked just like a square mile of Kansas transportedto New York State. Luckily for us, a bit of Kansas avifauna also made itselfright at home there recently, and decided to stay for a while. This is itsstory (at least from our point of view!). Bill Evans is the most openly optimistic birder among us. Who hasn'tgone out with him and heard him exclaim at the outset, "It feels likethere's gotta be a rarity out there today!" Well, late this September, hewas finally as good as his word. Out checking his listening stations in thefar northwestern reaches of the Cayuga Lake Basin, he spotted a kingbird onthe wire. This was interesting because he hadn't seen one in about twoweeks. But when he stopped to look, he quickly realized this was more thanjust a late Eastern Kingbird...it was a Western Kingbird...or at least oneof the several yellow-bellied western kingbirds. He got on his cell phoneand, working his way through a succession of unanswered phone numbers,finally got Steve Kelling at the Lab of O and began describing the bird tohim as he was watching it. It soon became clear that it was indeed aWestern Kingbird. Steve posted it on Cayugabirds, setting severalinteresting sets of wheels in motion. Steve and wife Sue drove up the same evening and found it. Their reportindicated that the bird appeared to be within the Basin, an importantconsideration for the David Cup competition. It seemed to be this revelationthat set off a slightly delayed reaction of chasing the bird. Your faithfulcorrespondent went up the evening of the next day, but was frustrated by afairly steady rain. A lone Syracuse birder was there too, but eventually gaveup. I was hungry so I drove the five miles or so to Lyons to stoke up [yes,McDonald's ... I SWEAR I seldom eat there EXCEPT on birding junkets].Then I returned, to find Jeff and Allison Wells back at the kingbird spot.Their long faces indicated they'd had no luck either. The bird was probably aone-day wonder, we decided. We were so disappointed, in fact, that wekilled the time by sourly speculating that the spot probably wasn't in theBasin after all, from the lay of the land, and by wondering what Bill wasdoing up there in the first place. Were he and Cathy Heidenreich, aCayugabirder from those parts, having a secret assignation, ostensibly tolook for a recently reported Whimbrel? It was a juicy rumor worth starting,we decided. The next day I posted a message essentially saying "Don't bother, thebird is gone." But Bill wasn't so easily convinced. The day after that,knowing that Cathy Heidenreich was out of town and thus unlikely toembarrass him by showing up, he decided to take Annette Finney up to lookfor the bird. And darn if it wasn't right back at the same spot again! Someguys (and girls, in this case) have all the luck. Bill spread the word, and you knew that a lot of people would be outlooking for the bird the next day (Sunday). I was there by 10:30 A.M.,cursing my bad meteorological luck. It wasn't raining this time, but it wasvery windy. Still, that wind was from the south, so maybe the bird hadn'tleft, but was hunkered down somewhere out of sight. Soon Tom Nix andBard Prentiss showed up, and we stood around until noon, with no luck.Again we wondered whether this spot was really in the Basin anyway. Whata bunch of sore losers we are! We dispersed, Tom and Bard heading one way, me another ... namelyright back to that infamous eating establishment in Lyons mentioned earlier.Well greased, I returned to the scene of the crime ... what else to do on arather nice, if windy, Sunday? It was deja vu all over again ... therewere the long-faced Wellses again. The misery was more spread out thistime, though, as they had Matt Medler and Casey Sutton with them. We drovea loop of roads to the south, since that was the direction in which thebird had last been seen flying, but it was a desperation move, and we knewit. One final commiseration session by our idling cars, and we headed backfor Ithaca, my car following theirs. But just as we were about to turn backonto the highway south, their car stopped and turned around. What was up? Ialmost kept going, but decided to follow them anyway. They turned onto aroad we hadn't traversed and stopped after about fifty yards. We were stillin sight of the original site, so I scanned the open fields and power linesin that direction. Suddenly the others were all pouring out of their carand pointing in the opposite direction, shouting "There it is! There itis!" Not fifty feet from our cars was the Western Kingbird, peering downat us from the telephone wires along the road. This is what had happened: riding shotgun, Allison had spotted a distantbird out of the corner of her eye just as Jeff was preparing to turn onto thehighway. The bird was flying back in the direction we'd come, and Allisonfelt the profile was sufficiently close to a kingbird's to warrant one lastcheck. Who knows if the bird she saw actually was the bird on the wire, butthat hardly matters. Something called us back, and the story had anincredibly happy ending. I was so excited I kissed Allison on the cheek,and when we left she promised never to wash it again (right cheek, Allison,in case you've already forgotten). Of course, I felt awful for Tom and Bard. Leaving that morning, they hadin fact turned onto that very road, and scanned the area we found it in! Whatrotten luck. But, as I'm sure they'd be the first to tell you, that's allpart of the game, and we all know next time the roles will probably bereversed. It's hard to describe the welter of emotions I, and presumably theothers, felt while we watched this bird. A perfectly ho-hum experience insay Kansas was transformed here into magic. We watched the bird, whichseemed almost to enjoy performing for us, sally forth to snatch two very fat,juicy-looking bugs and bring them back to its perch. After beating themagainst the wire, the bird appeared to toss them into the air beforeswallowing them, like a show-off popping M&M's into his mouth [Sexistchoice of personal pronoun there? You make the call.]. And finally, speaking of conflicting emotions, consider the rollercoaster Kevin and Jay McGowan must have felt they were on as they drove up tolook for the bird later that day. En route, they first encountered BardPrentiss at a stop sign, learning from him that the bird hadn't been seen.Nonetheless, they kept going, and in Aurora I spotted and hailed them,having just posted the updated news from my office computer. So I was ableto give them the new location, and they were able to just drive right up tothe bird!

(Karl David is...ah, never mind, you already know.)

Scrawl of Fame--cont'd

"On the Importance of Being Last" By Andy Leahy

Let me just start by acknowledging--freely and openly, without shame,without remorse--that my team came in Last Place at the first-everMontezuma Muckrace held way back on Sept. 6. My teammates--all card-carrying members of the Onondaga AudubonSociety--blamed me exclusively. They said it was me and my--how shall Isay this?--relaxed approach to birding that took us out of the running.Basically, by 9 a.m., I was accused of being "A 10-Bird Handicap." By thetime we turned in our list, they were laying a full 20 birds on my head. Technically, I was captain of the group. I probably spent a whole hourjust putting the team together. Shanghaiing recruits, the endless phonecalls, the paperwork, travel coordination, etc. And yet all my pleas forsomething as simple as a sit-down, diner-style food break were scoffed at. "You didn't bring a lunch?" I'm not actually bitter about the experience, though, because--see,from the standpoint of spreading the contagion of birding--I think LastPlace is a very important place indeed. Let me explain. One of my main jobs with Onondaga Audubon these past few years hasbeen coordinating the group's annual Birdathon, a third-Saturday-in-Maybirding contest which you could say is kind of like New Jersey's WorldSeries of Birding, except Bush League. Or kind of like the David Cup,except one day. According to the organization's oral history, the event hasgone on as a low-key Big Run since at least 1955, which I think is anincredibly long time. For most of those years, though, it never went beyond ten or twelveteams consisting of the usual suspects. Now Onondaga Audubon's Big Run hasbecome a Birdathon--voluntarily encumbering itself with a fund-raisingelement--and so there's been a much greater organizational incentive toexpand participation. As it happens, that's been a tough process. There's a lot of theoriesyou could throw out for this, and I've heard them all. Time, time, who'sgot time anymore? Not that many birders out there. Some folks are turnedoff by competition. But if you really panned through all these lightweightexcuses and got down to one single nugget of truth, I think mainly it'sbecause people are afraid of coming in Last Place. This very human fear, this terrific reluctance, this may not be arecruitment problem for the Boston Marathon, but--for whatever reason--the sport of birding suffers from it. If, in fact, the problem is trulythis simple, then the solution should be equally simple: Just arrange itso Last Place comes in as low as possible every time. I say there's a substantial legion of vicariously participating, casualbird enthusiasts out there--following the monthly tally of The Cup, orOnondaga Audubon's annual Birdathon round-up, or the Muckrace stats, orwhat have you. And I say the last threads of these folks' resistance toactually getting out there in person can be broken with nothing more thanabsolutely terrible showings by at least one--preferably several--pioneers. The worse, the better. In fact, if anything, I'm ashamed my Onondaga Audubon team did as wellas it did in the Muckrace. If we just put in a little less time, a tad lesseffort, I'm convinced we could have single-handedly doubled recruitment fornext Fall's event at Montezuma.

SHAMELESS PLUG: P.S --Onondaga Audubon's next Birdathon will beheld between midnight and midnight, Saturday, May 16, 1998--all within theout-of-basin confines of Kingbird reporting Region 5. There is, however,precedent for participation by Cuppers: Father Karl himself came aboard lastyear and had "a ton of fun birding new areas with new people." Drop Leahya line at maleahy@syr.edu for details.

(Andy Leahy, formerly a newspaper reporter, is currently Veep for OnondagaAudubon and makes a living as an abstractor in Syracuse, where he has ahouse, a wife, and a 5-year-old girl who hates birding. He's workingon his second career as an advertising exec for birding competitionseverywhere.)

(If you have an opinion--or insider information--about the art, science,and/or esthetics of birding or birding-related topics, write it up for theScrawl of Fame.)

Despite previous self-effacements that fall is not his most productivebird-seeing time, this month's Coach is also Kickin' Tail. Although we'd liketo brag that it's merely the realization of a strong prediction (what, KevinMcGowan? Kickin' Tail? In September? Ha! Ha...ha...um...) truth is, thetiming was just our good fortune--and yours. Here's why:

COACH MCGOWAN: October is the last gasp. This could be your lastchance to get new year birds. Unless you are missing some fairly easy stuff,or something really neat turns up later, you won't add much after this. So,that said, what are you going to do to make the most of it? First, on thepersonal side: What are you missing? If you need a couple of shorebirds,some are still to be found at Montezuma through the middle of the month.But, be aware that many things (like Short-billed Dowitcher) are gone. Doyou need flycatchers (like me)? Fuhgettaboudit! They're history. Warblers?Most are gone; the ones to look for now are Connecticut and Orange-crowned. But, you'd better hurry. We've got only another week or sobefore it's too late for them, too. Do you need sparrows? Better luck here.Most expected sparrows are still around, along, probably, with some rarities(like Nelson's Sharp-tailed, LeConte's, and Clay-colored). The bad news isthat they're so sneaky now you may never find them. I'll bet there's still aHenslow's Sparrow in the Basin right now, but I'll also bet you don't findit! Weedy fields are well worth walking through. There's lots of habitatout there. Definitely make like the Steve's and check out Hog's Hole.That's where the action will be. Patience, persistence, and pure out andout luck are what you need to turn up a couple of neat sparrows at this point. How about hawks? Are you still missing Broad-winged Hawk? Quelastima! They're gone! But, if Golden Eagle is still a hole on your list,this is the month for you. Go check out Mount Pleasant on days with northwinds. Red-tailed Hawk migration peaks this month, and Golden Eagles willpass through, too. A whole lot of hawks will be going by this month, and avery, very few might be something different. Pennsylvania just reported aSwainson's Hawk flying by. Maybe it went over Mt. Pleasant first. We'llnever know these things unless you go up and check it out. Do you need winter finches? Don't we all! It shows signs of being afinch winter, but they're not here yet. A few Evening Grosbeaks have flownover, and more are to be watched for. White-winged Crossbills are beingreported to our northeast (and even one at Hawk Mountain to our south), sowatch for them, especially at spruces with heavy cone loads. But they justmight wait a while before making their appearance, if they appear at all.Same for siskins and redpolls. A few should show up soon, if they'recoming, but any bulk will be a bit later. Still, October is the month tobecome aware of the possibilities. Longspurs will be seen before the endof the month, if people look for them. Listen to the tapes of flight notesof the finches and try to be out where you can hear these daytime migrantsflying over. And keep those thistle feeders filled! Are you missing any waterfowl? If so, then the season for you is justheating up. The Loon Watch is officially under way, and although few loonshave passed by yet, it's starting. Watch the last half of this month forthe first of the scoters, Oldsquaw, and Brant. Early morning at TaughannockSP with Bob Meade is a great way to pick up interesting migrants. Or, headdown to Stewart Park and join the jolly junta on the jetty for gulls, loons,and who knows what. (And the walk out to the lighthouse is one of the bestplaces to look for Orange-crowned and Connecticut warblers.) So, play the odds and fill in your gaps. Give Montezuma a couple moretries. Watch the lake, and take a couple of lunch breaks at Mt. Pleasant.If you feel like a stroll, pick a nice weedy field. Go wander the festivalgrounds at Hog's Hole. And don't take down your hummingbird feeders yet.Any hummingbird that turns up this month is worth a close look. A fewwestern hummers are turning up at feeders in the east, so watch forsomething different, especially something a bit rufous. I'm hoping for someinteresting feeder visitor this winter. Something like a Harris's Sparrowor Varied Thrush. We haven't had anything like that for quite a while, sowe're due. Keep those feeders full and don't forget to watch them every nowand then. And get outside and bird! Let me repeat myself: get outside,get outside! There seems to have been a lull in the action over the lastmonth, so we need to turn it up a notch. Those of you without a newbornbaby don't have acceptable excuses. Get out there and try to findsomething. This can be the most beautiful time of the year in upstate NewYork, so try to appreciate it. Either use your being outside as an excuseto bird, or use your birding as an excuse to be outside. Remember, it onlygets darker and colder after this.

(Kevin McGowan is Associate Curator of Birds & Mammals at the CornellVertebrate Collections. He does not have a newborn baby...)

mmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmm McILROY MUSINGS mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmm

Just when we were about to send a flailing fistful of questions off toSteve Kelling for being in the lead--AGAIN--this month, The Cup's mailboxeswere AGAIN inundated with Frequently Asked Questions for our pitifulrunner-up, Allison Wells. Here are just the FAQs:

ANONYMOUS: Steve is so mild-mannered, hardly the competitivetype. How come he keeps winning every month?

WELLS: Don't let his generosity as a birder fool you. He's highlycompetitive. Just ask his former high school football rivals, particularlythose with missing teeth.

ANONYMOUS: Do you think you'll be able to stay ahead of Stephen Davies?

WELLS: No problem. Stephen, you see, lives on the wrong side of FreeseRoad--the Dryden side--so his great yard birds like Orchard Oriole areuseless to his McIlroy list. Also, although his superbly poetic prosewould lead you to believe his urgency to find birds at the jetty, I knowfor a fact that he goes down there just to catch up on his sleep. I've setup scope at Stewart Park and seen him leaning Rip van Winkle-style againstthe lighthouse, his head nodding rhythmically up and down like he's some kindof yes man for some Basin big wig (given his Bird Brain column, presumablyBill Evans.)

ANONYMOUS: Will your 200-bird McIlroy record be broken this year?

WELLS: Probably. I didn't work too hard towards the end of last year. Ireally wanted to end on the magic number of 200 (which was, by the way,Laughing Gull.) I wanted to be able to break my own record this year. Ithought it would look impressive. Had I known then what I know now,though--that Steve Kelling was going to enter the McIlroy this year,and with a vengeance I may have actually tried for things like McRuffedGrouse and McHorned Lark. You can believe I tried this year, though I'mstill missing the McGrouse.

ANONYMOUS: Any bad McMisses this year?

WELLS: Grouse is definitely doable in Ithaca, just ask the Steves. And I'mstill missing Common Tern for both McIlroy and David Cup. Kevin and I aregoing to drown our sorrows in his home brew for our most pathetic miss-to-date. Anyone out there need to join us?

ANONYMOUS: What's been your favorite place to bird in McIlroyterritory this year (even though it hasn't helped you much)?

WELLS: My favorite McIlroy birding spot has always been Allen TremanPark/Hog Hole. That quickly became one of Jeff's and my regular hauntswhen we came to Cornell as grad students nine years ago (don't worry,we're not STILL grad students!) Some among us plod out to the lighthousefor their birding meditations, but being from Maine, when I go to alighthouse, I expect to smell salty air and see gannets and guillemots.Allen Treman offers pretty much the same vantage point as the lighthouse,plus you have the added chance of getting some incoming raresparrow -Dickcissel, Clay-colored--to light in the brush beside you. We'vehad some fabulous birds there over the years--Ross's Goose (the StewartPark one a few years back was first seen off here), Laughing Gull,Forster's Tern (both found on the breakwater from here) Short-eared Owl,Sedge Wren, Connecticut Warbler, (Nelson's) Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Henslow'sSparrow. Steve Kress had Red-headed Woodpecker there once. I love the walkout--the spanse of field laying before you, with the vast reach of the lakebeyond. It's spiritual without the risk of boat exhaust causing you tohallucinate something like, say, a jaegar. And there's always the sensethat the next step could flush up a Western Meadowlark. Of course, our cargetting busted into last year has tainted our affection for the place alittle (even though the cops caught the *$^%&%s.) Until a better excusecomes along, I'll use that as my reason for why I haven't gone down thereas much this year. I'll also use that as my excuse for why I'm not aheadof Steve.

ANONYMOUS: Who do you think will place higher in the McIlroy, BillEvans or John Bower?

WELLS: You can't keep letting your cowardice spook you out of theBasin if you're going to score well; such is the case with Bill Evans. Onthe other hand, you have to be able to identify more than Song Sparrows,and I have it from a reliable source that John Bower does not fall intothis elite category of birders. If Michael Runge had had the guts toactually enter his infant into the competition, I'd say she'd outpace bothof them.

ANONYMOUS: Aren't you getting sick of coming in second place everymonth?

WELLS: Aren't you getting sick of coming in behind me every month?

==================================================== BIRD BRAIN OF THE MONTH By Caissa Willmer====================================================

Stephen Davies

This month's bird brain has a Welsh lilt and a Welsh way with languageand image. He finds birding strongly connected to his general sense ofwell being. "When I'm out birding and my senses are all tuned in to mysurroundings," he says, "I feel alive and in tune with myself." He's beenone of the most prolific contributors to the CayugaBirds ListServ, and onesuspects that birding is both a vocation and an avocation. He's StephenJohn Davies, currently a graduate student in the College of VeterinaryScience, and as he puts it, "I'm a vet by training but now I think ofmyself as more of a biologist. I study parasites that cause diseases ofhumans in the tropics ('those nasty guys that swim up your penis and makeyou REALLY sick,' according to Bill Evans.)" I plied Stephen with the usual questions, and it turns outthat he knows,almost to the minute and the hour, when (and how) he got turned on tobirding: "I started birding on 14th January, 1982. I was an avid (some say anal)note-taker and record-keeper, even at the tender age of twelve, so I caneasily pinpoint the exact moment in time when this whole obsession gotstarted. It was a rather atypical child's Christmas in Wales--we were hitby a severe winter storm on the 13th (coincidence?) and were snowboundfor several days at our family home high up on the mountains overlookingPontypridd. (By the way, did you know Pontypridd was also the birthplaceof world-renowned entertainer and fellow Welshman Tom Jones? He grewup just down the street from me.) Anyway, to overcome the boredom, Istarted feeding the birds in the back yard.I borrowed my dad's extremelyheavy and very fuzzy 10x50 binoculars and never looked back. My fatewas sealed when, after only four days of birding, I experienced the thrillof finding a Brambling coming to breadcrumbs I'd strewn on the garage roof.Not a particularly rare bird in Wales, but definitely a 'good' bird. Itsent my pulse racing and I've been birding feverishly ever since. "I soon discovered the joys of birding Kenfig Pool and DunesNational Nature Reserve (it was just a Local Nature Reserve in those days)--THE local hotspot. This reserve hosted the UK's first Little Whimbrel(closest extant relative of the mythical Eskimo Curlew) in the earlyeighties, and while this bird occurred 'before my time,' the stories thatsurrounded its discovery had a profound influence on me during myformative birding years. To this day, the Numenius genus holds a specialplace in my heart and I dream of encountering all of its members before mytime on this planet is up. "Now many say Wales is not the hottest birding venue in the UK--andthey're right. We're not inundated with vagrants like such places as theScillies, Norfolk, or Shetland. But one thing we do have a lot of is gulls.Welsh birders are, therefore, larophiles by default. I spent many a bleakwinter's day roaming the refuse tips and abandoned docklands of Cardiff onmy bike, scope strapped to my back. It was a dangerous environment, butthe prizes were immense--Little, Black-headed, Common, LesserBlack-backed, Ring-billed, Bonapartes, Glaucous, Iceland, Yellow-legged--they were all out there, and my young soulmates and I risked life and limbin their pursuit. We froze in the icy winds that whistled in off the bay,we were chased by dogs, threatened, shot at, etc., but I look on it now as akind of training period. It was a tough town, and we grew up fast intotough, determined birders, ready to take on the challenges that lay ahead.Little did I know that those experiences back then would equip me so wellfor birding the David Cup?! (Incidentally, did you know that world-renowned entertainer and fellow Welshperson Shirley Bassey grew up inCardiff's docklands?)" I asked to what extent birding colored his life, and he came back with... "It's more a question of how does the rest of my life affect mybirding! I try not to let the day-to-day practicalities of earning a livingaffect my birding too much. But inevitably, one ends up having to makecompromises. I initially trained as a vet, and managed to land a practicein prime birding habitat--Norfolk, on the east coast of England, of allplaces! I tried to capitalize on my position--calling the local RBAs everyhour on practice phones, racing off after this, that, and the other in mypractice-supplied Subaru on practice gas. I scored on some of the biggestbirds of the year--Lesser Crested Tern, Oriental Pratincole--but I soonrealized that working a 70-hour week and spending the rest of the time oncall was not compatible with spending real QT in the field. I needed achange of direction, and a new continent to expand my life list. It soonbecame clear what I needed-grad school at Cornell." I asked him the inevitable questions about listing, and he said... "I think all birders enjoy listing, even if they don't admit it. I enjoylisting to an extent, and I've certainly kept more lists this year than atany other time in recent years, thanks to the David Cup and McIlroy Award.The lists closest to my heart are Life, British, and Western Palearctic and,more recently, ABA area. I enjoy listing to the extent that it can improvemy birding. I feel my birding skills improve as I strive to familiarizemyself with a bigger and bigger selection of species. But the key wordhere is 'familiarize.' Listing doesn't do you any good if the minuteyou've seen one bird you're off in search of the next. You have to learnthe birds on your life list. I'm still trying to learn every detail aboutthe birds on mine, and I expect life isn't long enough to really 'getthere.' But trying to truly 'know' the birds you see every day is the bestway to prepare yourself for finding and identifying the unusual. And let'sface it, I think most birders would agree that the satisfaction of findinga rare and exciting bird outweighs the satisfaction of a big list." And true to his word, when I asked Stephen to speak about a memorablebirding experience in the Basin, his answer hinged on that question offamiliarizing himself: "I guess the event that most sticks in my mind is 18th September,1996, when Bill Evans and I observed a jaeger on migration from the end ofthe white lighthouse jetty. The bird was poorly seen--we were able todetermine very little about its plumage--and while we are both fairlyfamiliar with the three jaeger species and have some skua experience, wewere unable to identify the bird to species. We both felt that size andjizz suggested Parasitic, the jaeger I am most familiar with from Britishseawatches, where this species is common. Still, we could not be certain,and we were happy to let the record slide. Despite the inconclusive natureof this observation, however, it remains an outstanding experience in mymind, and I think Bill will agree with me on this. The purposefulprogression of this bird down the east side of the lake was awesome andinspirational. For me, this event was also significant for another reason.Bill and I had been hammering the jetty pretty hard that fall, looking forthe real 'bad boy,' and I'd already learned a lot from Bill--he's aphenomenal birder, and I doubt if anyone could fail to learn something fromhim. I was particularly impressed with his eye for migration. In fact, itwas almost distressing to be around him--he was so in tune with what wasgoing on, he knew exactly what to look for and where to look for it. Itwas like a sixth sense, like he could sense the birds moving overhead. Hewas constantly scanning the skies, while I felt like my senses weretruncated, cut off at ground level. I definitely felt inspired by Bill, andI resolved to improve, to stretch my senses to the maximum and tune in.The appearance of the jaeger simply served to etch those sentiments in stone--it was like a 'road to Damascus' experience, an affirmation of what I wasthinking, of what I thought was the way forward, the way to improve." I asked if he had some more birding tales to tell, and he said, "Plenty,but I'm not sure if your readers would appreciate them! I don't feel I'vebirded the U.S. long enough to be able to relate anything truly meaningful orscandalous about the birding scene here. I guess everyone who's been toTexas has a Brownsville dump (a.k.a. Mexican Crow Sanctuary) story totell, so here's mine: The day we were there, a howling gale was blasting upfrom Mexico. It reminded me of Cardiff, but it was warmer and the trashsmelt different. I sat in our rented Camry, the wheels sinking in the mudand fetid dust billowing in the open window (sorry Hertz). I scanned themonumental piles of refuse for signs of life while Katherine, my girlfriend,sat patiently in the passenger seat. I'd promised her an ice cream if sheagreed to spend a couple of hours at the landfill with me. (Birders visitingBrownsville with significant others take note: the ice cream ployworked--Katherine is now my fianc .) Suddenly, a small-looking crowsoared into view some distance away, riding the stiff wind. It danced in andout of the rubble, dodging the flying debris thrown up by the wind--a masterof its environment, like the Common Ravens we'd watched high up inthe Chisos Mountains of Big Bend days earlier. But the bird was a fair wayoff--size and shape were hard to determine. Was this a Mexican Crow or aChihuahuan Raven? I had no experience with either species. I watched,mesmerized, following through binoculars its every move. Then, suddenly,and without warning, everything disappeared. The crow, the dust, therefuse, the dump were all gone. It was as if a sudden snowstorm haddescended on the Rio Grande valley, which seemed unlikely. But the effectwas the same--total white-out. I squinted desperately through the whitehaze, searching frantically for the crow. The stench intensified, and Ifelt like I was suffocating, fighting for air. Finally, I lowered mybinocs--to find a white plastic garbage bag, with some interesting brownstains on it, plastered up against my objective lenses and face. I forcedmyself to remember the discipline I'd learned birding the Cardiffdocklands. I stifled the urge to puke, and I carefully peeled the bag offmy face. Ittook me a few minutes to recover my composure and spit the bits of grit outof my mouth, by which time the crow was long gone. Then we laughed.And I'm glad to report all ended well. We set off in the direction of thefirst crow sighting and after some more searching, we left the landfillhaving enjoyed fine views of both Mexican Crow and Chihuahuan Raven.And all for the price of an ice cream and a slap in the face by a grimyplastic bag. Sounded like a good deal to me! If you're birdingBrownsville, the dump is a must. Ah, I can smell it still." The man tells a good story, doesn't he? I would have liked to plyhim for more, but Allison and Jeff have to put some limits on the amount ofmaterial we offer in The Cup. I will add his final words, however, becauseStephen Davies is not only a fine raconteur, he's a very gracious man aswell: "Thanks for listening to my garbled banter. And thanks to you and therest of The Cup team for continuing to supply the Basin birding communitywith a first-rate source of news, views, scandal, and inspiration.I can hardly make it from one edition of The Cup to the next." And I, for one, would like to thank him in return for the liveliness andsubstance of his "banter," not only here, but over the last year or more onCayugaBirds.

(Caissa Willmer is a senior staff writer for the Cornell Office ofDevelopment. She's also theater critic for Ithaca Times. Her "nets" arealready strung in waiting for the next Bird Brain. [see Cup Quotes])

Because birders suffer so many unique trials and tribulations, The Cup hasgraciously provided Cuppers with a kind, sensitive and intuitive columnist,Dear Tick, to answer even the most profound questions, like these...

DEAR TICK:

Someone said in a Coach's Corner that to succeed in this competition, you'vegot to think like a bird. Well, maybe we should extend that to countinglike a bird, too--i.e., in base 8, since (most) birds have 8, not 10, toes.I've done the math and my totals in base 8 are higher than anybody's inbase 10. Unless any of those ahead of me can correctly convert their totalsto base 8, I declare myself the leader. --Not Behind the Eight Ball in Aurora

Dear Not Behind the Eight Ball:

You're teetering dangerously close to plagiarizing a statistics column I readon a regular basis--I forget the name of the publication (seems like it hasthe word "Cup" in the title) but it's astute, I assure you. Until you cancome up with a more original way to scam your way to David Cup victory, I'mafraid you'll have to stick with the ticks you actually earn. Anythingelse would be too debasing.

DEAR TICK:

Way back during spring migration, I clearly remember kicking up a fewSolitary Vireos at the city cemetery, and I duly ticked them off on my DCand MA lists. Then, a few days ago, I was birding the jetty when I kickedup a couple more Solitary Vireos, but I understand that during their briefbreeding season further north, they mutated into a different species,Blue-headed Vireo. I suppose I can also add this to my DC and MA listsnow, right? Having been extra-Basin for most of the month, I need all theticks I can get. --Splitter in Ithaca

Dear Splitter:

Of course you can add Blue-headed Vireo to your list. However, I have badnews about the Solitary: it no longer exists. Sadly, it has gone the wayof the Rufous-sided Towhee, Slate-colored Junco, and numerous other ill-fatedspecies. On the other hand, if you're looking for a good two-for-one deal,try aisle nine at Wegman's. Of course, some people would argue thatmacaroni and birds are two totally different things. But hey, who are theyto argue with Yankee Doodle?

(Send your questions for Dear Tick to The Cup at jw32@cornell.edu)

""""""""" CUP QUOTES """"""""

"I'm in White Hall, on the Arts Quad [Cornell] this year, so this week I'vebeen in the habit of taking the 5-minute walk down to City Cemetery betweenmy 8:00 and 11:15 classes and seeing what's there. It's been warblerless,but each time I see at least one good' bird...Today, it was an Olive-sidedFlycatcher...Cuppers may remember that, ironically, I missed Olive-sidedFlycatcher last year for the first time since I started birding the Basin.Ironic because I achieved my highest total number of species ever last year."

--Karl David

"I didn't get my copy of The Cup. They are hilarious and I look forward toreading them. Maybe in a few years when my daughter is in college and Ihave loads of free time (and am a better birder), I think about competingtoo." --Linda Buttel

"Sadly, I did get The Cup and Bill Evans' regretably inflammatory comments.Now I'm going to have to really kick his butt in the McIlroy competition."

--John Bower

"All the birders around Ithaca sure seem to have some great ideas forcontests and having fun birding! I'd love to see a copy of The Cup for fun,ideas and information!" --Alan Anderson

"Yet another month with no change in numbers. Actually got out birding aday. I was forced to. I led a bird club field trip. Maybe I will now getback to more regular birding. And then again, maybe not. But I sure enjoyreading The Cup. It's always a treat." --Marty Schlabach

"We started in pouring rain, (we would have ditched it if Niaal, an Irishbirder new toCornell had not come with his scope) wondering whether weshould go or not. Once we left Ithaca, rain tapered and by the time wereached MNWR it was quite dry though cloudy. In the western sky we didsee at times the sun's rays." --Meena Haribal

"My McIlroy is the same as last month, but I can't remember my exacttotal (I lost the list) and my mom has done something with the previousissues of The Cup. Can you please tell me my total? Thanks."

"You people astound me! How do you find the time to be avian-savvy,witty, diverse, AND then write about it all! The Cup's a WONDERFUL read.Thank you." --Ann Mathieson

"I heard my first screech owl of the year, in my yard last night, as themoon rose over Mecklenburg." --Nancy W Dickinson

"Last night I aimed my scope at the moon at 9pm and saw 63 birds fly infront of it in half an hour! Broke my record for moon watching. Most ofthe birds were little guys (sparrows and warblers?), about 10 appeared tobe thrushes, one was probably a hummer, but my favorite was a big, slowflyer. I'd guess it was a green heron or bittern." --John Bower

"Greatly enjoyed The Cup; always do! Many thanks!!! --Randy Little

"Guess what!? I saw a Whimbrel at Seneca Lake Park! I spent a LOTof time getting all the info Kevin and Steve suggested I should try to notewhen I see a new bird and was so proud of myself--then when I called oneof the local birders the first question he asked (I had my list ready!) was did you get a picture?'!" --Cathy Heidenreich

"I promised myself that on the very day after the latest Cup appeared, Iwould net my next Bird Brain and have her/him cuffed, ringed, measured,weighed, examined for fatty tissue, and whatall WEEKS in advance."

--Caissa Willmer

"Reading Allison's post about their adventure in finding the WK thismorning I feel a little better about our own mis-adventure last evening,9/30. Inspired by earlier postings and still flush with the excitement ofadding the Sabine's Gull to my life list, I gently encouraged (read dragged)my hubby off for the quick (4 hour) roundtrip up to see the WK.Unfortunately, we did not relocate. Another intrepid birder (I think itwas Stephen Davies) was already there but also having no luck. We birdedall around the area from about 5:15 to 6:30. The local farmer came overand chatted w/us and said they hadn't had this much excitement in a longtime! Another couple stopped by and told us they saw the bird right thereon that wire' yesterday afternoon. Heavy sigh! Oh well, arriving backhome at 9 pm, sans bird or dinner, I nominated us both for the OutstandingEffort award and settled down to watch the incredible Yankee comeback.Unfortunately, being a native Californian, I am not a Yankee Fan!"

--Margaret Launius

"I have been suppressing my temptation to go and see this WesternKingbird, but every time I see a posting (especially from fellow Cuppers) Ifeel like going. So, now if someone is planning to go..."

--Meena Haribal

"Three of us, Linda, Tina and myself, took a pilgrimage to Pilgrim's Portroad, off Klipple road for elusive Western King bird. We started fromIthaca around four pm., reached Klipple area just when light was perfect,lots of insects in the air. We scanned all wires, pylons and any twigsticking out...We did not see the bird, but we did see someone who hadseen this bird on Monday evening. Unfortunately, we did not shake handswith them therefore, so we can't count the bird." --Meena Haribal

"Here are our September totals. We're doing okay, despite my perennialproblems with fall. Jay is still breathing down my neck; even closer now!A quick perusal of the overall list of 4's' and 5's' on my difficulty listshows a rather tight bunch of contenders for the overall title (includingus). By this time last year I had figured it was Karl or Steve who wouldwin. This year, I don't know. Tom was of course the overall leaderthroughout the year, but he has missed an unacceptable number of difficultbirds. I have had to guess on everyone else's lists, of course, but a bunchof us have now caught up to him in overall rarities seen. In fact, we're sotightly bunched in the rarities department now that, contrary to my usualpredictions, the winner might be the one who did best with the 3's'(predictable every year, but difficult) instead of the harder ones. But,you'd better keep on top of any October rarities!" --Kevin McGowan